Current thoughts and directions in museum practice from around the world,
as selected by Julian Bickersteth.

Monday, October 12, 2015

Bowie, ACMI and the Verbaliser

I’ve finally cracked my long standing inability
to understand song lyrics – I’ve discovered most of them are nonsensical
anyway! This revelation comes courtesy of the V&A’s exhibition on David
Bowie currently showing at The Australian Centre for the Moving Image
(ACMI) in Federation Square, Melbourne.

From the early 1970s Bowie conceived of an idea
of mixing random phrases together mostly taken from short news clips. He co-authored a smart piece of software known as ‘the Verbaliser’ which
rearranges words to make this happen and create some of his lyrics. I
think the technical term is ‘cut-ups’ and it’s a technique that went on to
influenceKurt Cobain's songwriting.
I guess we would call it a mash up these days, but one of the highlights of the
exhibition for me was hearing Bowie talk about how he used words in this
way.

Whilst this is not an exhibition I would have
rushed to see based on its subject matter, I came away having thoroughly
enjoyed it and seeing Bowie in a completely new light as an extraordinarily
creative person. It’s slick and well presented, with a clever Sennheiser audio system (headphones are provided as part of the ticket price) that responds to where you
are by playing songs and information relevant to what you are viewing. There’s a great review at dotsanddashes.co.uk. Sadly, I understand Sennheiser is not interested in replicating the system for other exhibitions.

This is all part of a big V&A push into
Australia with no less than three of their exhibitions currently touring, David
Bowie is…. at ACMI, Undressed at the Powerhouse, and soon the
Queensland Museum and Bendigo Art Gallery and Inspiration by Design
currently at the State Library of NSW and soon to be at the State Library of
Victoria.

ACMI is a bit of a hidden performer in
Australia's cultural sector. It's been around now for over ten years in its
current location, though it actually dates back to 1946 as the Victoria State
Film Institute. In 2013 it attracted over 1.15 million visitors. That's
an impressive statistic, and based on the current offerings it deserves to do
well, and can only play a bigger role.

This is going to be significantly helped by the
recent appointment of Seb Chan to a newly created role of CXO - Chief
Experience Officer - a position he takes up this month, returning from 4 years
in New York at the Cooper Hewitt, where he was the Director of Digital &
Emerging Media, and the lead player in the development of their new interactive
pen (see my blog from June 2015 for more information). Listed in 2009 as amongst Australia’s 100 most
influential people (see my blog from January 2009), Seb is not going to sit quietly in his new
role. Watch the ACMI space!